Recently there's been a lot of talk of Promivion. A lot of people have completed the missions; A lot of people are doing these strange things called ENMs; A lot of people have been farming things called "animas"; And a lot of people don't know what all this means and get frustrated that they can't just beat the Promyvion bosses and get on with their lives.

Well, the principle problem is that many people do not really understand what Promyvion offers you, and many other people don't understand what it takes to successfully beat a Promyvion boss.

So, ladies and germs, read on for the full poop on everything that is Promyvion :-)

Promyvion, Overview

Promyvion is the areas inside the various Crags spread throughout Vana'Diel. These areas are also known as "The Emptiness" and are filled with strange creatures ("Empties") unlike anything else seen outside of them. As it has been said before, Promyvion is the "key" to unlocking the rest of the Chains of Promathia expansion pack (very much how the Giddeus, Gelsbah, and Palborough keys unlocked the Rise of the Zilart expansion pack).

What can you do there?

This is where the confusion for most people lies. Most people see the word "Promyvion" and assume it can only mean the Promy Missions. This is, in fact, wholy incorrect.

Promyvion can mean any one or a combination of three things:

Farming for Recollections (a.k.a., Anima Farmining)

ENM Battles (not unlike BCNM battles)

Promyvion Boss Battles

As you can see, actually battling the boss is only one third of the reasons to go into Promyvion. The problem is, most people who haven't beaten the Promyvion boss battles see it as the only reason to go into Promyvion. If you are someone who thinks this way, then you need to realize that it is not the only reason, and that it is often not a very good reason to enter into Promyvion. The boss battles require much more preparation than the other two, and often require at least some lengthy farming. But I am getting ahead of myself... let's look at the other reasons for entering Promy before we look at the boss battles...

Farming for Recollections

By far the most common reason to enter into a Promyvion is to farm for Recollections. These Recollections can then be turned into various Anima, which are special items to be used inside of Promyvion. These Anima are the key to success for the Promyvion boss battles, and can also make the ENM battles that much easier to do.

There are three different types of Recollections you can get. Each of these Recollections can be taken to Harith in Ru'Lude Gardens where they can be transformed into Anima for 2,000 gil. The Recollections, what they turn into, as well as what they do, are as follows:

Recollection of Pain -- Hysteroanima
When used against an Empty, Hysteroanima blocks all of the Empty's TP-based attacks (or special attacks) for 30 to 45 seconds.

Recollection of Fear -- Pyschoanima
When used against an Empty, Psychoanima blocks all of the Empty's physical attacks (or normal attacks) for 30 to 45 seconds.

Recolllection of Guilt -- Terroanima
When used against an Empty, Terroanima will cause the Empty to panic and run around for 30 to 45 seconds. During this time, the Empty will not attack.

Of the three animas, the two most important ones to get are the Hysteroanima and the Psychoanima. These two are crucial for beating the Mea and Holla bosses, as well as very healpful against the Dem boss. In fact, you will find that most people who have already beaten the bosses will not want to join you in fighting them again unless everyone involved has these two Anima.

Some people say the Terroanima is useless, however they are incorrect. Terroanima is not very useful against the bosses themselves (as it can wreck most people's 2 hour attacks) but it can be very useful against the ENM battles. It can also be very useful in evading deadly aggro on the fourth floor while you run for the zone.

Where do you get these Recollections?

The Recollections drop off of certain Empties inside of each Promyvion. The drops are as follows:

As you can see from this, if your goal is to obtain both the Pain and Fear Recollections, the ideal place to farm for them is Holla (as the Wanderers and Weepers are the easiest mobs to kill, and can be soloed by most jobs).

ENM Battles

If you are doing Promyvion correctly, you will be spending a lot of time doing ENM Battles. The common misconnception that most people need to overcome is that the boss battles are the primary goal. This is wrong. The ENM Battles should be the primary goal. Here are the reasons why this is so:

Experience Points
ENM Battles grant 18k EXP divided equally amongst those who participate. This means that a group of 6 people can get 3k EXP per person if successful. Additionally, there is no EXP loss if you fail. This means that ENM Battles are essentially EXP "freebies" in that they only cost you the time to attempt them.

Potentially nice drops
The most common drops from ENM Battles are clusters of memories, which wont bring in much money. However, every once in a while the drops include special items that can be turned into earrings that can be sold. Sometimes these earrings are worth millions (for example, an item dropped from the ENM in Dem is currently worth 6 million gil).

Mini-Boss Battles
The ENM battles are basically "mini-boss battles" for the real Promyvion boss. This means that you can use the ENM battles to hone and refine your skills.

Promyvion Boss Battles

Now we get to the part that everyone is chomping at the bit for. Yes, the Promyvion Boss Battles are important. Yes, you have to complete them to be able to unlock the rest of the CoP areas. Yes, you have to beat them to complete the mission. However, the boss battles are very hard unless you do them correctly. Because of this, you do not want to run into these things unprepared.

Instead, you want to do the other things you can do in Promyvion first before trying these. You want to farm for anima, and beat a few ENM battles. You want to get as much experience with Promyvion as possible such that, when it comes time to actually fight the boss, you are ready.

Each boss battle is different, but really they all require the same strategy to beat (this strategy originated from this post):

Everyone has Hystero- and Pyscho- Animas.

At the start of the battle, the tank uses Psychoanima, counts to five, then uses Hystero.

30 to 45 seconds later, once the enemy starts hitting the tank again, the next person uses Pyscho-, counts to five, and uses Hystero.

Rinse and repeat, with people 2 houring as necessary, until the boss is dead.

That's pretty much all there is to the boss battles. If everyone has both psycho and hystero animas then a party of 6 people will be able to stop all attacks from the boss for at least 3 minutes. This means the boss will basically just stand there as you pummel them to death.

Anima is key to boss battles!

Because anima is so necessary for the boss battles, most people who've completed Promyvion missions will not come back to help you unless you have the proper anima.

Both Mea and Holla bosses are so nasty in fact, that it is very unlikely you will ever be able to beat the bosses on a "cold run" (meaning a run without any preparation or anima collection). By way of an example, I personally attempted Promyvion Mea boss 23 times before I successfully beat him. And the only reason I beat him was because 5 of the 6 people in my party were fully stocked on Anima.

The Winning Promy Strategy

Okay... so now I've told you all the dirty little secrets to Promyvion. What about a strategy that, if you follow it to a tee, will guarantee success, no matter which Promyvion you do? Well, read on, buck-o, because I'm about to enlighten you.

Farm Anima

First of all. Head out sometime before the Promyvion to farm recollections. Go to Holla, as you can get the two most important ones there. Make sure everyone (or most people) in your team have the two important anima at a minimum.

Repeat it with me:

Anima is the key to my success!Anima is the key to my success!Anima is the key to my success!Anima is the key to my success!

Ascent Strategy

When you have enough Anima, start your ascent on whichever Promy you are doing. See Tabke's Promyvion chapter for the basic ascent strategy. He covers everything you need to know. I would only like to add the following notes:

#1 : Sometimes Alliances are harder than just heading up with a single party. If a small group of 6 people are good at avoiding aggro, they can ascend up the tower a lot faster than a full Alliance of noobs.

#2 : On the fourth floor, DO NOT FIGHT! Use Terroanima to get away from any unwanted aggro and just get your ass to the zone.

#3 : Do not engage the MRs until EVERYONE is ready. When I am with people who just start whacking away at the MR before people are ready, I want to stab them.

#4 : No joking! Promy runs are tense and require precision. Don't run around making jokes or acting like a jackass. You will just annoy people and will probably get everyone killed.

ENM Strategy

If you ascend the Promyvion, you will have wasted your trip unless you try an ENM battle. So, always plan on doing at least the ENM battle. You may not be doing the boss, but at least do the ENM.

Read up on your ENM battle before hand in this guide so you can know what to expect and how to start it. The only real strategies I have are as follows:

#1 : No 2 houring, don't waste potions or any other perishables. This is a free attempt at EXP, unless it is your only goal for the Promy run, no need to waste any items or abilities on it.

#2 : The WHM must have Reraise. Whether it comes as a scroll or an earring, the WHM needs to have the ability to reraise. This is because, you may wind up beating the ENM but lose a couple of people in the process. If everyone can be raised before leaving, then everyone can still get the EXP.

#3 : Touch not the sphere! After the battle, do not touch the sphere until everyone is raised and ready. This is because, if the sphere is touched before someone is raised, they will not get any EXP.

So, concerning ENM battles, repeat after me:

If I do not do an ENM battle, I have wasted a trip up the Spire!If I do not do an ENM battle, I have wasted a trip up the Spire!If I do not do an ENM battle, I have wasted a trip up the Spire!If I do not do an ENM battle, I have wasted a trip up the Spire!

Boss Strategy

Tabke's Promyvion chapter gives you all of the attacks for each of the bosses. Read it up, it will let you know what to expect. I will only add the following information:

#1 : Use the anima strategy detailed above! Everyone has anima, everyone participates in the rotation. Pyscho, count to 5, Hystero... Pyscho, count to 5, Hystero... Pyscho, count to 5, Hystero... Repeat this and you will always win your Promy.

#2 : Kill the boss as quickly as possible! If everyone has anima, you will have 3 minutes while the boss will do nothing but be a punching bag. Use it wisely and kill him off before the 3 minutes is up.

#3 : If you are fighting the Holla boss, everyone should use Poison Potions to prevent the boss's sleep attack.

#4 : If you are fighting the Mea boss, everyone has to have anima. You may be able to get by on Dem or even Holla without enough anima, but you will be destroyed in Mea if your team does not have enough.

That's pretty much it. If you can keep these things in mind, you will be able to get the mos from your Promy runs. If you use anima the way I've detailed here, you will never lose your boss battles.

In all honesty, the one thing that we've proven recently is that these fixed jobs aren't all that necessary. And I for one am not going to continue to perpetuate the myth that they are.

I've now had 3 successful runs on Mea, and 5 successful runs on Holla (bosses) with very non-standard parties. Two of my Mea runs and three of my Holla runs did not have a SMN or a RNG.

In fact, my most successful Holla run to date included 2 MNK/NIN, 1 DRK/NIN, 1 RDM/BLM, 1 BLM/WHM and 1 WHM/SMN. In that one, we killed the boss long before we even got to start using our 4th anima set. The MNK 2 hours were more than enough to hold hate so provoke wasn't needed.

The simple fact is, if everyone has Anima, then any well balanced party can kill these bosses. Heck, even our ENM static is what people would consider "non-standard" with Kit being a THF. So by far the more important factor is having Anima than having some cookie-cutter party.

Now, for the ascent, things are different. You will want at least one RNG in your group (6-person party or full alliance) who can widescan the MRs and lead you to them. Even with a map, getting to the MRs that are active would be hard without a RNG.

"Now, for the ascent, things are different. You will want at least one RNG in your group (6-person party or full alliance) who can widescan the MRs and lead you to them. Even with a map, getting to the MRs that are active would be hard without a RNG."

... but I don't subscribe to the above, any longer.

The reason is that MR's and the Spire are always on at the edges of floating islands. So you just go around the edge. Sure at some point you are going to hit a clump of trees or a group of buildings teeming with bad things, but for those times you just go temporarily inland and then back to the edge. And the Spire always seems to be way far, far away, any how.

I really don't think Wide Scan missing from a party would do more than lengthen the run a little bit.

But if someone is asking for an event for this coming weekend...I still don't know what the request even is! I just know I won't be there for Oct 22nd night =^_^=

I really don't think Wide Scan missing from a party would do more than lengthen the run a little bit.

You know what? You're right. I guess I should just say that RNG is simply really helpful in getting to the top. RNG's two biggest boons in the ascent are 1) directing us to active MRs quicker than we may have found otherwise and 2) stray duty at the MR (as someone who has been tanking the MRs a lot lately, I really do notice when we lose a RNG there... my shadows get torn through a lot quicker by the strays, which means they aren't ready for "Empty Seed" when it hits). This just means they are helpful, not vital. So, yeah, cookie-cutter parties are even smashed for the ascent. Woot! Death to cookie-cutter parties! :-D

Also, for the 22nd... I wasn't personally planning on anything. I've been too busy for work this week to plan anything. Night (and several others) would like to make a boss promy run (not just ENM), but I personally haven't committed to anything yet.